goldenthroatsfandomcom-20200214-history
Phil Spector
Phil Spector is a 2013 television film. Cast Singing cast *Al Pacino - Phil Spector *Rebecca Pidgeon - Dr. Fallon Non-singing cast *Helen Mirren - Linda Kenney Baden *Chiwetel Ejiofor - Mock Prosecutor *Jeffrey Tambor - Bruce Cutler *John Pirruccello - Nick Stavros *Linda Miller - Ronnie Spector Plot Suffering from an illness eventually revealed to be pneumonia, attorney Linda Kenney Baden (Helen Mirren) arrives at the law office of Bruce Cutler (in Los Angeles. Cutler's law firm is providing the legal defense for music producer Phil Spector, who is accused of murdering actress Lana Clarkson in his home on February 3, 2003, by firing a handgun into her mouth. Spector's defense is that Clarkson committed suicide, and he recently has switched attorneys and retained Cutler's firm. Kenney Baden and Cutler argue the evidence for and against Spector. Kenney Baden believes that Spector is guilty and that a jury will convict him, citing the grand jury testimony of five women who claim Spector pulled a gun on them and demanded sex, outtakes from a television interview in which one of Spector's associates claims that Spector felt he needed to have a gun to keep women from leaving his home once he got them there, and a statement by Spector's chauffeur that Spector emerged from the house on the night of Clarkson's death and said he had killed somebody. Cutler says he believes Spector is innocent and offers the arguments in favor of Spector's acquittal. He says that Spector had overcome a drinking problem and been sober for ten years at the time of Clarkson's death, that an audio recording of Spector talking to police officers responding to the report of her death sounds to Cutler more like a man angry at her for killing herself in his house than someone who had just committed a murder, that the relatively small amount of blood found on Spector's clothes indicates Spector was 10 feet (3 meters) away from Clarkson and had made a defensive movement at the moment of the shooting, that the angle of the bullet's path is inconsistent with Spector firing it, and that ample evidence exists that Clarkson was depressed and may have been prone to suicide. Cutler also describes a major contention of the defense case, which is that the lack of a blood spatter on the wall behind Clarkson indicated that the bullet did not exit the back of her skull, meaning that the bullet fired into her mouth should have caused her blood and brain matter to exit explosively through her nose and mouth and cause a massive blood spatter on Spector's clothes if he was standing close enough to her to fire the bullet into her mouth, but there is no such blood stain on Spector's clothes. Cutler also suggests that a jury will be sympathetic to Spector because of his genius in producing popular music over the years, but Kenney Baden counters that younger people have no memory of the reclusive Spector or the era of his recordings and that his flamboyance and eccentricity will cause a jury to view him merely as a murderous "freak." She also says that a jury will be disinclined to let another celebrity go free after the acquittals of O. J. Simpson and Michael Jackson. She believes that the only way to defend Spector will be to attack the sanity of Lana Clarkson in court, but she also believes that this strategy will be self-defeating, because it will make the jury sympathetic to Clarkson. Despite her belief in his guilt and misgivings about the strength of evidence for his acquittal, Kenney Baden agrees to take Spector's case, and Cutler begs her to find another way to defend him in court. In her hotel room, Kenney Baden watches a television interview in which another Spector associate claims that Spector cannot distinguish sex from love, that Spector in his younger days was a powerful man who became accustomed to using that power to seduce many of the female recording artists for whom he produced music, and that later, as his career waned, Spector became obsessed with retaining his sexual power over women, even hiring private investigators to follow his former wife, Ronnie Spector, constantly. Kenney Baden discovers that Spector's father Ben had committed suicide by inhaling carbon monoxide in 1949 when Phil was ten years old. She visits Spector's home to gain firsthand knowledge of the scene of Clarkson's death and encounters Spector for the first time. He immediately launches into a lengthy, rambling monologue discussing what he views as his unfair treatment compared to that of other celebrities, the lack of public appreciation of his seminal role in the creation of the music industry and of his empowerment of African American artists, and the importance of his work as a producer on a large number of popular songs, all the while dropping the names of celebrities he worked with or knew well. As he speaks he gives her a tour of his home, and she sees the room in which he kept a large collection of guns until the police confiscated them, as well as his large collection of wigs. Kenney Baden is cold, and Spector gets a blanket, which he drapes over her tenderly. Kenney Baden tries to focus him on the facts of the case against him, and, aware that he has spoken to the press and accused the prosecutor of Nazi tactics, asks him not to discuss his case with anyone. She asks him about Clarkson, and he says Clarkson was depressed and was drunk and on drugs when she allegedly killed herself. Kenney Baden says that toxicology reports do not support this contention, but Spector angrily rejects the findings of the reports. Spector asserts that the case against him is contrived to punish him for being too powerful and explains that he keeps to himself not because he is an unlikable eccentric, but merely because he craves privacy. He concludes by saying that he takes prescription drugs that make his hands shake too much for him to play the piano anymore, much less aim and fire a gun. Driving to Spector's arraignment, Kenney Baden continues to search for a defense strategy, discussing the case with the Cutler firm's private investigator, Nick Stavros. Kenney Baden opines that the chauffeur's statement is the prosecution's only hard evidence, and that of her two options – putting Spector on the stand or breaking the chauffeur on the stand – only the latter is practicable. Stavros responds that he thinks that the police have threatened to charge the chauffeur as an accessory to murder for helping Spector get Clarkson to his house on the night of the shooting, and therefore the chauffeur probably will not break. While the prosecution makes its opening statement to the jury, Kenney Baden notes Spector scribbling musical notes on a pad of paper. Among a crowd of angry protesters outside the courthouse, one young woman hurls red liquid at Spector to symbolize Clarkson's blood. Cutler's law firm lays out its case and the prosecution's case to a focus group, which votes to convict Spector, and Cutler says it is because Spector is a wealthy figure without redeeming qualities who people of lesser means will be inclined to side against. The attorneys also view a television segment in which a younger Spector casually interrupts an interview at a recording studio to enter the studio with a gun and threaten the musicians, firing two shots into the ceiling, before returning to the interviewer. Cutler and Kenney Baden argue about the case, Cutler accusing her of working even though she is becoming too sick to work and suddenly becoming convinced of Spector's innocence because he gave her a blanket and won her over during her visit to his house. Cutler says that the prosecution will present ballistics evidence to counter theirs, and that the only way to win is to attack Clarkson, but Kenney Baden counters that the prosecution's case is in reality a retrial of O. J. Simpson and that the prosecution cannot prove Spector's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt thanks to the defense's argument about the lack of a large blood stain on Spector's clothes. She also says that the case is really about bias against "freaks," that from her own childhood experiences she understands how unfair society is to unpopular people, and that Spector should not be convicted merely because of that bias, regardless of his past behaviors and transgressions. Her newfound commitment to Spector's defense and combative attitude quietly please Cutler. Another focus group Kenney Baden and Cutler observe sees an interview with Spector in which he angrily asserts that the women who have accused him of pulling a gun on him are doing it merely to gain publicity for themselves and that the prosecution is simply trying to punish him for being "the most successful music producer in the history of the world." He also expresses sorrow over Clarkson's emotional suffering and death, and proclaims his innocence. The focus group then sees video of the young woman throwing the red liquid at Spector outside the court house from 10 feet (3 meters) away while Spector assumes a defensive posture, hears the defense's contention that the amount and pattern of paint that spattered on his clothes mimics that of the blood on Spector's clothes after Clarkson's death, and sees an animation of the defense's theory that there should have been a much larger amount of blood on Spector's clothes if he had pulled the trigger. Kenney Baden later watches a video of an interview with Spector's ex-wife Ronnie Spector in which she asserts that the press's adulation of Spector during the period of his greatest professional success secretly tormented him because he wondered whether he deserved the adulation. In the hallway outside the Cutler firm's offices, Kenney Baden encounters a focus group member who says that the animations of how the bullet traveled and how the blood would have spattered are merely "cartoons" that prove nothing. Kenney Baden arranges for, and witnesses, a live ballistics laboratory test that supports the defense's contention about the blood stain and further convinces her of Spector's innocence, and the Cutler firm hires a medical doctor to testify as an expert witness that Clarkson's gunshot wound was self-inflicted. Kenney Baden decides that a live demonstration in the courtroom similar to the laboratory experiment will convince the jury to acquit Spector. A court hearing determines, however, that the demonstration is inadmissible under the rules of evidence because it merely illustrates a theory. Informed of this, Spector angrily declares that it makes no sense that he would have thrown his life away over an actress working as a cocktail waitress just to demonstrate his "power" over women, laments that in earlier times the police simply would have accepted his explanation of her death and would not have arrested him, and demands to testify in his own defense at his trial. Kenney Baden tells him this would ensure his conviction and asks him what really happened on the night of Clarkson's death. He tells her that he was drunk and Clarkson was on drugs and alcohol when he brought her home and, after Clarkson asked to see his gun collection – which he says many women found exciting – he discovered her with the gun in her mouth. He says he shouted "No!" at Clarkson, startling her and causing her to flinch and accidentally pull the trigger. Kenney Baden arranges for another experiment which supports Spector's contention that startling someone in the manner Spector claims he did could cause that person to flinch and pull the trigger. Observing the experiment, Kenney Baden believes it is the key to Spector's acquittal. Cutler opposes the idea, saying that bringing into the courtroom the plastic skull used to model the defense's theory of how the bullet traveled will convince the jury that Spector is a monster, and that in any event under the rules of evidence Spector's version of events is not admissible unless he takes the stand and testifies about them. Cutler then turns the case over to Kenney Baden and leaves for New York City, which angers Spector even though Kenny Baden reminds him he had agreed to Cutler's withdrawal in a court hearing. Spector says he did not understand the implications of the hearing and accuses Cutler of leaving just to star in a reality television show, saying he expected more loyalty out of Cutler. After he calms down, Spector expresses complete confidence in Kenney Baden's ability to defend him and agrees to testify in court. She stages a mock trial to prepare Spector for it. When the mock prosecutor asks about statements Ronnie Spector made, Spector flies into a rage, ending the mock trial with a lengthy rant about how cowardly and ungrateful Ronnie Spector is, how much she owes him, and how mistreated he has been all his life. Kenney Baden advises him that he cannot rant in the trial and must control his behavior, just as he does in other aspects of his life. He promises to be prepared, sober, and on his best behavior at his trial the next day because, although he does not care what anyone else in the court room thinks about him, he does care what Kenney Baden thinks. He thanks the mock trial participants for their help and Kenney Baden both for working to defend him even though she is sick and for being someone he can talk to. After Spector leaves, Kenney Baden tells Stavros that at the trial she plans to change Spector's image in the public eye from an "oddity" to a "beloved eccentric" who is an innocent man. At her hotel, Kenney Baden encounters a woman who criticizes her for defending a "terrible man" and asks her what she will do if Spector is acquitted and "kills the next girl." Kenney Baden tells the woman that her husband is cheating on her, and when the woman says that it is not true, Kenney Baden replies that Spector, like the woman's husband, deserves the benefit of the doubt unless proven guilty. Spector's trial begins the next morning. He arrives at the court house wearing an outlandish wig which raises eyebrows among onlookers. When Kenney Baden criticizes his appearance, Spector claims it is an homage to Jimi Hendrix, who "suffered and was persecuted," and asks her to accept his expertise on costumes and how to put on a show, which she admits. He says he is ready to testify and, if asked, to explain his appearance in court as he did to her. As the trial begins, Kenney Baden crosses out all of her notes on what to ask Spector during his testimony, calls the medical doctor the Cutler firm hired as an expert witness to the stand instead of Spector, and quietly tells Spector that he might testify the next day, depending on how things go. In Cutler's law offices that evening, Kenney Baden watches television coverage of Spector's limousine arriving at his home. She asks Stavros, "Why does the monster live in a castle?" and "Why does the Minotaur live in a cave?" and tells Stavros the Minotaur does it to keep himself from doing harm. She also tells Stavros that she believes that Spector is innocent. When Stavros asks her if she is sure, she says, "No, but I have a reasonable doubt." As the film ends, text appears which reads, "On September 26, the jury reported itself dead-locked, ten to two in favor of conviction, and incapable of reaching a decision. The Judge declared a mistrial. On October 3rd, the Prosecution announced that they would retry the case. Due to her illness, Linda Kenney Baden was unable to participate in the second trial, whose jury, on April 13th, 2009, found Phil Spector guilty of Second Degree Murder and sentenced him to nineteen years to life in California State Prison, Corcoran where he resides today." Musical numbers *"Abraham, Martin and John" - Phil *"Spanish Harlem" - Rebecca Pidgeon Category:Films